Israel opposes Gaza peace plan ‘in its current form,’ minister says

The Israeli government opposes the U.S.-brokered 15-point Roadmap peace plan for Gaza “in its current form,” Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen said on Saturday, adding that “Hamas is planning a deception.”

Hamas “will say that it intends to abide by the agreement, hand over some of its weapons, and obtain what we used to call, in the language of the past, a hudna. [But] the era of hudna is over,” Cohen told Israel’s Channel 14 broadcaster.

“Hudna” means truce or armistice in Arabic. Hamas has used ceasefires in the past only to regroup ahead of renewed assaults on the Jewish state.

Cohen continued, “Ultimately, Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization. We do not believe a single piece of paper that Hamas [signs].”

Earlier on Saturday, Hamas informed the Trump administration that it agrees to the terms of the Roadmap that requires the terrorist group to lay down its weapons and transfer the rule over Gaza to a technocratic Palestinian body, AFP reported.

However, it seems Hamas does not intend to disarm before Israeli forces withdraw from the Strip.

“Hamas and other factions have confirmed to mediators their readiness to begin implementing the agreement and move to the second phase, provided it receives Israeli approval and that Israel begins implementing the agreement,” a Hamas official told the news agency.

“Hamas is urging the U.S. administration to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by the agreement and move to the second phase,” the unnamed official continued.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that Israel will not pull back from its current positions in the Gaza Strip until Hamas is completely disarmed.

“I am standing firm on our security interests: We will not withdraw from our current lines until Hamas is completely disarmed,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language video posted to his Facebook page.

He added that Israel Defense Forces soldiers had been instructed “to do everything necessary to defend themselves, to defend our territory, to defend our citizens.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and his team believe they can persuade Hamas to demilitarize the Gaza Strip, he said, adding, “We are examining that.”

The Trump administration presented Israel with a draft agreement that Jerusalem rejected, according to Netanyahu. “This is not our draft,” he stressed, adding that Israel had conveyed its comments to the White House.

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